


Nisei

by scullywolf



Series: TXF: Scenes in Between [58]
Category: The X-Files
Genre: F/M, Gen, MSR, Missing Scene
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-20
Updated: 2015-09-20
Packaged: 2018-04-22 12:01:06
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 747
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4834571
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/scullywolf/pseuds/scullywolf





	Nisei

_“Why don’t you stick around, get a motel room and check it out in the morning?”_  
_“What are you going to do?”_  
 _“I’m going to go back to D.C. like a good boy, like Skinner told me to do, and show these to a few friends of ours.”_

He was halfway to Hershey when his cell phone rang, jarring him out of his thoughts. He fished the phone out of the pocket of his jacket, which was bunched up on the front seat, and answered.

“Mulder.”

“Mulder, it’s me. I, um, was just calling to let you know I’m at the Mansfield Motor Lodge, room 214. Just in case you need to get ahold of me tonight.”

For a moment he wasn’t sure if she was speaking in some sort of code. Why would it matter where she was staying? If he needed to contact her, he’d just call her cell.

“Okay.” He waited.

“So you’ll let me know what you find out when you talk to the guys?”

“I’m still a few hours outside of Washington, Scully,” he said slowly, still unsure if he was missing something. “By the time I finish up with the boys, it’ll be well past midnight, I’m sure.”

“Well, it might be useful to know what Sakurai was carrying, before I go talk to Betsy tomorrow.”

He frowned, puzzled. “I can call you in the morning. I’m sure you won’t be knocking on her door at the crack of dawn or anything, though you probably want to do a drive-by tonight just to make sure Sakurai doesn’t have any friends in the area.”

“I’m parked outside her house right now, actually.”

And she didn’t lead with that? “Oh, that’s… anything interesting?”

“She seems to have just gone to bed. I saw someone moving around through the window a few minutes ago, and now there’s just a lamp on in the bedroom. I’m going to take a walk around the block, see if I can get a look at the back side of the house, but it seems like everything here’s quiet for now.”

“Good.” He nodded, even though she couldn’t see him. “Hopefully Sakurai was working alone, and he should be nearly back to Washington by now. I don’t think I can check on him without pissing Skinner off, but I’ll see what I can do to make sure he actually got back to town.”

She was quiet, and again he wondered what she wasn’t telling him. None of what she’d said so far necessarily merited a phone call; it could all have waited until morning.

“Is there anything else?”

“No, I… no.” There was another pause, and then they talked over each other.

“Okay, then--”

“Well--”

“...yeah?”

He could hear her sigh. “I just hate not knowing what we’re up against with this. I mean, by all appearances, we’re dealing with an assassin hiding behind diplomatic immunity, and his apparent target is someone who claims to have recorded this supposed alien autopsy off his backyard satellite dish. And who just happened to be killed the day after you bought a copy of the video from him. I mean doesn’t it all strike you as a little bit less than coincidental and a lot less than clear?”

“Careful, Scully, you’re starting to sound like me.” He smiled. He never got tired of that joke.

“I just have a bad feeling about this, Mulder. The way Skinner came blazing up here to shut us down… If he finds out you didn’t check those photographs into evidence, you could be looking at suspension or worse. Sakurai may be able to get away with murder _and_ take you down in the process.”

More likely, the diplomat would be on the next plane to Tokyo, vanishing into the proverbial woodwork, but even if Sakurai never saw justice, Mulder wasn’t about to stop trying to uncover the truth of what was happening on that tape. Some of the answers he sought were in those satellite photos; he was sure of it.

“I’ll keep you posted,” he promised. “It’ll be all right, Scully. I’ll keep my nose clean, won’t give Skinner any reason to look deeper into tonight’s incident until I can confront him with more evidence. Meanwhile, you find out everything you can about why Betsy Hagopian’s name was circled on that list.”

“All right.” She sounded resigned, if not convinced. “Call me when you know what was being tracked in those photos.”

“I will.”


End file.
